Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: Hawkdancer on July 29, 2020, 01:39:04 pm
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We had a thread a while back about band saws, and I believe the Grizzley line was well thought of. They are having a bit of a sale, and I would like to get some feedback on them. Any body get one of their saws lately? What is your opinion? Thanks!
Hawkdancer
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I'm in the market for a band saw myself. What kind of sale are they having at what retail store?
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My buddy who is a full time woodworker has one as his main workhorse bandsaw, but his is a big one. I think his has a 14” re-saw capacity :o
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I have the grizzly 14" black anniversary model bandsaw with a 1 hp motor. I bought it maybe 4 or 5 years ago. It's worked great for me. I had to replace a blade guide bearing. It was a common size and was super cheap on Ebay. I bought a 10 pack to have on hand. That's the only repair I've had to do. I used it to resaw all of the oak barn siding for my camper. That was 4 straight hours of feeding oak boards through it.
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I have this one, a 14" saw, 1 1/2 hp when I bought it, I think the same model is a 2 hp now. The only thing I have had to do to it was change the tires out on the wheels a couple of times and give it a blade tune up every now and then. It is at least 15 years old and a fine piece of equipment. This one has more bells and whistles then the standard models.
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This would be about the same model now.
https://www.grizzly.com/products/Grizzly-17-2-HP-Bandsaw-35th-Anniversary-Edition/G0513ANV
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I have a Grizzly 14", 1hp. Had it for probably 20 years and never had any problems with it. They have good tech support and parts.
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I have had 3 different band saws, the first was a Craftsman 12" with a 1/2 hp motor. The Craftsman was actually a good saw, as long as the blade was sharp it would handle any bow making job I threw at it.
The next was a 14" Rigid with a 1 1/2 hp motor, this saw was the biggest piece of junk I ever owned. The wheels were out of alignment and the saw was made in such a way that there was no way to get them in alignment. I took it to warranty repair twice, the first time they told me they shimmed the wheels and got them in alignment. It was still out of alignment so I took it apart and found they lied to me and hadn't done anything to it. I took it back and told them what I found and if they couldn't fix it I wanted a new saw, it had a life time warranty. Rigid sent me a new saw, or so I thought, I bought my Griz and gave the Rigid to my brother still in the box. Turns out it was a factory return and 25% of the parts were missing. The parts gals didn't know a bandsaw wheel from a truck tire and always sent my brother the wrong parts. It took him over a year to get enough parts to get the saw running and a good number of these came from the local hardware store.
If you want a top notch saw buy a Griz, if you are iffy about your bow making journey buy a used saw off Craig's list. I have see the Craftsman saws go for as little as $75.
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Sleek, if you go to their website - grizzly dot com - and look for woodworking bandsaws, you will see the sale. They have showrooms in Bellingham, WA and Springfield, MO, and I think they sometimes have even better deals if you go there in person (like tent sales).
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They ship your tools by freight to your door, they will put your order on the ground, the rest is up to you. Have some friends close by.
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I've had three, all 14" saws. My first and the only one I paid and wasted full price for was a rigid. Again the biggest piece of junk I've bought, too. The cheap cast aluminum adjusting pieces break with no effort. I finally gave up trying to get a new one or my money back from Home Depot. I pulled the salvageable stuff off of it and the rest went in the trash pile.
The second and not really too bad was a Reliant 14" 1 HP that I got in a trade. Still has cast aluminum but it is older and seems to work a lot better then the Rigid. Someone can have it for free if they want to come get it.
The third is the best I Have owned and was lucky to get it for what I paid. It's a full size Rockwell, 14" 1 1/2 HP. All steel with real bearings. It is pretty old and heavy and for only $300 came with a Rockwell/Delta 6"x 48" and 12" disc sander. Both strong and smooth to use.
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They ship your tools by freight to your door, they will put your order on the ground, the rest is up to you. Have some friends close by.
Ah, good old curbside delivery. This is excellent advice, because it really is 'beside the curb'. I had 12 cases of 7.62x39 ammo delivered once like that and then got my workout for the day carrying them all into the basement. Life experiences... :D
Mark
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I handled the stuff myself. I had them unload the equipment into the bed of my pick up truck off their lift gate and drove up my steep driveway with the stuff. I slid the tools out of my truck and down a 4 wheeler ramp to the door of my shop then moved it with a hand truck to its final destination. Some things were in one piece, my belt sander and jointer, the big bandsaw was in several pieces that I assembled.
I was also closer to 52 instead of my current 72, I lifted weights and ran and wasn't the wimp I am now.
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That shipping info is good to know, because the shop is about 75 yards from the front of the house, with no walkway! Maybe I can get it dropped at the shop and/or draft some of the football team to get it onto the shop! I do plan to order the neat little caster set, too! I doubt my HF hand truck/dolly would hold up to that much weight.
Hawkdancer
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If you are ordering a bandsaw it comes in two pieces, top and bottom. You could open the box and put each piece on your hand truck separately to wheel to your shop.
I added a piece of 3/4" plywood to my hand truck to get a bigger grip on things.
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That will work! Now all I need to do is have it delivered to the concrete pad at the shop building! And get the football team to do the heavy lifting (lol)! Should have thought of that myself.
Hawkdancer